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Charity Supporters & Volunteers
Enter our Charity Supporters & Volunteers section to find our news of our local work and the various ways to support, pray and join in.
Schools Information, Bookings & Video Resources
Enter our Schools Information, Bookings and Video Resources section for school staff to discover what we have to offer local primary and secondary schools.
“Safe Space” – Dedicated Youth Site
If you’re a young person who connects with our work (or would like to) through local Safe Spaces in schools, then select here to enter our dedicated youth site: safes.uk
New: Connect Kids Project for local church groups
About
For two decades, the majority of schools across Southport, Formby and surrounding areas have benefitted through assemblies, lessons, presentations and extra-curricular clubs and activities. These have been delivered by our employed schools worker, a team of local church volunteers, a Pais Project team of gap year apprentices, and most recently a part time sports ministry leader.
Our aim is to see this work continue, grow and develop through working in partnership with local schools and local churches, in order to see that great impact across Southport in the years to come, which is very much in our hearts and prayers.
- David Taberner, Schools Worker
Our Aims:
+ To contribute to the educational, moral and spiritual development of young people by working in partnership with teachers, youth leaders and other schools workers.
+ To work alongside teachers and their students to help develop an understanding of God’s presence and purpose in their lives.
+ To be a friend and resource to schools and colleges, Christian teachers and students.
+ To empower and equip young people to be a strong positive Christian influence in there schools.
In doing so the Trust will be:
+ Interdenominational
+ Representative of the churches in Southport & Formby.
OUR TEAM
David ”Tabz” Taberner
Hettie Taberner
The Volunteers
Recent highlights from the team on social media:
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "Our Mission Impossible project has once again got off to a great head start. We've had amazing feedback from children and staff, multiple schools describing it as the best trip they've been on. Such a range of words that the children have used to describe the Christian origins of Easter: amazing, inspirational, believable, interesting, great, surprising, good, sad, cruel, terrible, unfair, happy, intense, real, "loved it!", outrageous, fun, truth, impressive, cool, fascinating, magnificent, shocking, brutal... my favourite by far was: "I felt hopeful"! We have a hope that is so needed in this generation right now."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "We spent a lot of last week getting ready for Mission Impossible. It's always a highlight of the year seeing how amazing the venue looks after its grand transformation - ready for hundreds of primary school children to come and investigate Easter for themselves in a powerfully creative way. We'll have loads more to share next week on how it's been going, but this week's highlight has just been the opportunity to watch it all come together and then standing back to realise how blessed Southport is by this 23yo project - all the hours of time volunteered, the amazing venue and huge amount of equipment donated for three weeks (all of which would otherwise cost way over £10,000 each year). Excited to see what the next few weeks have in store? Don't forget our public performance on Saturday 25th MARCH, 11am-12.30pm - for more details and to book your place: mievent.saswtrust.com"
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
Mission Impossible 2023 Family Experience
Saturday 25th March 11-12.30pm
Secret Agent Experience in the centre of Southport. Calling families of agents to get your stealth game on, find out the truth!
The SASW Trust team are running a special public session of the classic Mission Impossible challenge for all the family!
Get your secret agent game on and join us for a morning of action, lights, smoke machines, escape room challenges, holograms... oh, and prizes!
Mission Impossible is our most loved & longest running production, although many of the Year 4-6 pupils who visit would describe it as more of an ‘experience’! In the last three weeks of term, leading up to Easter, we annually transform Scarisbrick New Road Baptist Church into a mock secret agent headquarters. We draw together a large team of volunteers who act as secret agent leaders who greet hundreds of primary school children and enlist them as secret agents for the day, where they are led on a mission of discovery by Agent T (True) and Agent F (False).
In four squads agents move around different mission zones in the building where they look at aspects of the Easter story in order to reach their own personal verdict on the origins of Easter. The production is a fully immersive challenge lasting 90 minutes in total.
The experience is entirely free, but a suggested donation of £10 per person is gladly received.
All children to be accompanied by an adult. So if you came with school in Year 5 or 6, come and bring the family! (Or if you didn't, come see what you've missed all these years!)
Age-rating: 8 years+, otherwise please use parental discretion.
Make sure you book here as spaces are limited!
Eventbrite bookings:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mission-impossible-2023-family-experience-tickets-574485330087
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
It's nearly Mission Impossible time! Please do join us in prayer this coming Monday evening, 7.30pm at our secret agent headquarters - Scarisbrick New Road Baptist Church. Also, check out the latest mailing link for our special family session of Mission Impossible too! - mailchi.mp/7457a7f8e214/saswtoctoberupdate-13544304
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "Our question of the week was "How would you describe resilience?" (from the Scripture Union Rooted programme) - it was interesting how some young people had some great thoughts to share, whilst others had no idea at all giving us a great opportunities to share good practices for having more resilience in life. My favourite was "know your purpose", where I got to share with a few different groups throughout the week about how my Christian faith journey and calling to work with young people has been such an amazing experience of finding purpose in life. I'm torn as to whether my favourite point was playing "Resilience Bingo" - a game I dreamt up overnight - or the young person who asked me "What age do I have to be to start doing a job like yours, Tabz?" Amazing to hear young people longing to bring hope to their own generation - it's time we all stepped up to help them!"
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "We recently started an 'Awesome Club' after school in a local C of E Primary School. We have had so much fun getting to know the group, playing games, learning the awesome skills (fruits of the spirit) and praying together. The session we did last was about peace. Hearing the children pray for peace in the world and in their lives was so beautiful and authentic. We are loving spending time with these incredible children."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "We spent the week focussing on the question "What does it mean to 'belong'?" (as found in the Rooted question cards from Scripture Union). We were able to have some real deep, honest and relevant conversations with secondary age young people around loneliness, thinking through what we can do to make a difference to what is statistically the loneliest generation (Gen. Z). We were able to talk about Christian models of community, how one body has many parts, and how serving brings a sense of belonging and purpose. We particularly had some great thoughts from Impact, a busy community Safe Space in Ainsdale, and at our new after-school Safe Space. I believe this depth of conversation was a specific answer to a prayer request at Southport's Ecumenical Tuesday Morning Prayer Meeting."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "One day this week we saw 2 young people four times in one day! They came to check in with us during Safe Space at school and came to our after school Safe Space wellbeing session, which they are now regulars at. They then helped at the kids club that they were part of in Primary School, followed by attending the Youth club where we are doing Youth Alpha. It has been so good to build up such a positive relationship with these young people, seeing them serve others, participate in discussions and grow together. "
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "I love Sweaty Church every week, but this week was so beautiful. I loved hearing children discussing what they learn during Sweaty Church and how what Jesus teaches has made a difference to their lives. We have an incredible team who have built amazing relationships with the children and we are excited to see them grow and develop further."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "As it was national children's mental health week, we made the most of it by carrying a theme through all our activities from Scripture Union's Rooted Question: "How would you describe good mental health?" We used Matthew 11 all week - “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” From our assemblies, to lunchtime Safe Spaces, to Impact in Ainsdale and our newest after school Safe Space, we've been able to share a message of supporting one another, being friends who share the load - following the example of Jesus and his yoke (with careful attention to explain that has nothing to do with eggs, and is instead is a great example of walking step-by-step together to carry the load of life!) It was a great opportunity to talk about why we do what we do, and the message really hit home when with the "mystery weighty box challenge" addressed how outward appearance don't always indicate the weight of life's burdens someone could be carrying inside."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "We had a really creative session after school on Thursday with a bunch of young people inventing made-up secondary school students coming to check in on their emotional wellbeing at Safe Space. We discussed how the characters would be feeling and how we could empathise with them. The young people got to put themselves in our shoes as Christian youth workers and think about how we would respond in a way that supports and loves. It was a great exercise in loving our neighbour as ourselves and seeing things from both sides, as well as a chance for us to empower and raise up young leaders in their school who can help change the culture and make a real impact amongst their peers."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "We had some really enjoyable assemblies this week about fairness. Not only did we have fun and consider the story of Joseph, we also thought about people who have stood up for fairness in our world and reflected on what we could each do to play our part in that. It was great to see the children engage so well and grow in understanding of how life is different for other people."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "On Thursday, I finally got chance to lead our first after school Safe Space session in a secondary school (we've been working towards it for some time). It was great to spend 45 minutes with a handful of students we only see briefly at lunchtime - giving us more chance to explore the big issues of life and faith together. The conversations were fun, but deep ( with help from our Youthscape Jenga set!) We were able to put our Safe Space youtube channel to good use, had some great conversations about local youth clubs, and posed the question of "how would you describe the Christian faith to someone who's never heard of it?""
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "Our second week back doing lunchtime safe spaces has been really great (although we did have to miss one day due to illness), particularly our new secondary school. We were out on the yard and were totally crowded out for the whole lunchtime - we logged 260 young people through our wellbeing check-in system in the space of just 40 minutes! It's hugely encouraging to see how popular the idea of a safe space to explore the big issues of life and faith is becoming. As great as the big numbers are, we're obviously hoping that after the initial buzz we'll start to see deeper conversations and supportive relationships developing like in our other schools too."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "I'm now 9 years into my role with SASW Trust, and one of my ambitions has been to serve in every Southport state secondary school weekly (5 schools and 5 days a week does make sense!) Last Tuesday we began our 5th weekly lunchtime Safe Space and I can't express how blessed we feel to have the opportunity and how thrilled we are with how it went. It felt like everything was battling against us - everything from the awful weather to my glasses snapping clean in two 5 minutes before the lunch bell! But we pressed through with confidence, joy, felt incredibly provided for, and between us spoke to 155 students exploring the big issues of life. We met many students for the first time and continued our journey with many who remember us from primary school. Very excited for what is to come!"
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "It has been brilliant to be back running Safe Spaces in High Schools and catch up with hundreds of young people following Christmas. We've built some great relationships and it's really encouraging to see so many young people coming to connect with us week after week. There have been many positive staff comments recently, particularly as different schools have been discussing our Safe Spaces with each other. We are so thankful for how well the work is going."
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects SASWT Schools & Sports Projects is feeling excited.
Loved our first Safe Space at Stanley High School today! Super busy & loads of fun meeting students.
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Hettie: "We had our last week of lunchtime safe spaces in the local secondary schools for this term and it was so full of great conversations. Lots of young people excited about the Christmas holidays, and of course, some worries and concerns too along the way. But all in all, we totalled up 364 young people across the schools who have completed at least one 6-week loyalty card this term, which is more than we've ever had AND many of them were regular enough to have completed two cards. It's always amazing to think that each of those represents a young person who regularly connects with us, who we get to journey through life with almost every week, helping them explore the big issues of life and faith. And then there was the prize draw in each school too, full of wellbeing resources (and much more) - once again, the names we pulled out of the hat just seemed to fit perfectly to individuals needs. Such a privilege!"
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects
One of last week's highlights from Tabz: "We finished our 2022 Christmas production and had an absolute blast. 18 showings, 4100+ children, incredible responses from pupils and staff, loads of laughs and great feedback everywhere we went. We had lots of great comments about all the video & animation (which we invested loads of time into learning and developing), but even more appreciation for the clear challenge and message that Jesus came to change the world and through the power we all have inside of us, we can continue that mission. Safe to say we're pretty exhausted now, but it has all been so worth it! You can what the studio version of the whole production online at christmas.safesp.uk"
SASWT Schools & Sports Projects SASWT Schools & Sports Projects is in England.
// THE 'MATIVITY' CHRISTMAS PRODUCTION //
It's time for your annual glimpse into Tabz & Hettie's annual Christmas craziness in primary school. Grab the family around and set off the school hols with a bang, because it's time for the studio recording of this year's show! If you've no idea what we're talking about, then get this watched and check out what you've been missing all these years!
Join us right here for the 'Mativity' Christmas Production with everyone's favourite 'bookworm', Matilda on her quest to find the power inside herself to change the world...
Now having performed to over 4000 primary school children from Southport and beyond, it's your chance to see what all the fun has been about!